Customized Leadership Development is More Effective and Cheaper Than You Think 

Recently, I was speaking with an organizational leader who wanted my opinion on which way to go with his training, buy an off-the- shelf training solution or build a custom development program?  Interesting question, right?

I was about to provide my perspective when he went on to share that he had put a lot of thought into this conundrum and actually had a pros and cons list.  It went something like this:

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Since he seemed to have his thoughts well-articulated. I decided to ask him a few questions to see if I could help him with a decision. I asked, “Where is your organization headed in the next three years and do you have the internal capabilities to help you get there?

He spoke for about 15 minutes and mentioned some key challenges and problems they are facing like including extreme growth, increased complexity, greater ambiguity, more challenger organizations, increased innovation, as well as a need for increased collaboration, speed and flexibility.

I was not surprised as these are what most of the leaders we are speaking with are saying they need in 2017.  I then asked, “But, what do you see as the top three outcomes that are mission critical?”  He responded with alignment, collaboration and attention to execution.  Wow, 2 new ones!

So given this, I had him revisit his pros and cons list and consider if  a video based training program would deliver on alignment, collaboration and attention to execution or if he required a custom program?  The answer became obvious at this point.  A custom program that had alignment, collaboration and a call to create excellence in execution was what was required.

Yes, there are some cons to custom development but in our experience, the targeted investment is well worth it to deliver on the mission critical.  So you might want to ask yourself, what are your mission critical outcomes and how is your training supporting the development of these capabilities?

For additional information on customized Leadership Development, please contact Lighthouse NINE Group.

Phil Drouillard, ICF
Partner
Lighthouse NINE Group
One Eva Road, Suite 209 | Etobicoke, ON M9C 4Z5
Office: 416-607-5923

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